Borgata Clash of titans : a history of the American Mafia

Louis Ferrante

Book - 2025

"This epic three-volume history of the mafia continues with Borgata: Clash of Titans, covering 1960 to 1985, as the mob comes into conflict with the American political elite--and confronts internal wars that will shake the organization to its foundations. The first serious external threat to the mafia's existence in America comes from U.S. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, who repeatedly expresses his desire to eradicate organized crime in America. Kennedy unleashes the full force of the U.S. Justice Department, including a slumbering FBI that Kennedy will drag into the fray, to the apparent dismay of long-time FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover. The mafia's unforgiving response is executed by Louisiana don Carlos Marcello along ...with Florida don Santo Trafficante, who together take aim at the attorney general's brother, the president of the United States. With the president dead and the attorney general out of office, things return to normal for the mob--but internal problems begin to appear within a number of borgatas, shaking the mafia to its core. Mobster Joe Valachi becomes the first-ever public informant when he testifies before a senate sub-committee, while Brooklyn mobsters Larry, Albert, and Crazy Joe Gallo launch an insurrection against the founder and leader of their borgata, Joe Profaci. While the Gallo-Profaci civil war is winding down, don Joe Bonanno challenges the mafia's ruling body, the Commission, in a situation that decides if the Commission's central authority can overpower the autonomy of each individual boss. As he did in the first volume of this epic history, Louis Ferrante continues to debunk myths while adding new insights into other mafia mysteries, such as the feud between mafia capo Anthony "Tony Pro" Provenzano and union leader Jimmy Hoffa, revealing the most plausible scenario of why Hoffa died, how he was killed, and what happened to his body."--Amazon.com

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Subjects
Published
New York : Pegasus Books 2025.
Language
English
Main Author
Louis Ferrante (-)
Edition
First Pegasus Books cloth edition
Physical Description
423 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references (pages 337-409) and index.
ISBN
9781639367481
  • Introduction
  • Part 1. Politics and Power
  • Chapter 1. Father and Sons
  • Chapter 2. The Runt of the Litter
  • Chapter 3. The Brother Act Versus the Brotherhood
  • Chapter 4. A Paranoid Schizophrenic with Homicidal Tendencies
  • Chapter 5. Atypical Ambassadors
  • Chapter 6. Faustian Bargains
  • Chapter 7. The Chairman and Leader
  • Chapter 8. The Big Little Man
  • Chapter 9. The Jungles of Central America
  • Chapter 10. A Strategic Alliance
  • Chapter 11. The Bay of Betrayal
  • Chapter 12. James Bond, Three Stooges and a Comedian
  • Part 2. Rebellion
  • Chapter 13. A King's Ransom
  • Chapter 14. Sleeping with the Fish
  • Chapter 15. Mistaken Identity?
  • Chapter 16. He is Going to be Hit
  • Part 3. Conspiracy and Cover-up
  • Chapter 17. Missiles and Whistles
  • Chapter 18. Master of intrigue
  • Chapter 19. Sparky from Chicago
  • Chapter 20. The Hit Heard Round the World
  • Chapter 21. Silenced
  • Chapter 22. The Exhaustive Report
  • Chapter 23. It Ain't Goin' Nowhere
  • Part 4. War
  • Chapter 24. Banana Split
  • Chapter 25. Martin Luther King with a Pinky Ring
  • Chapter 26. Disunity Day
  • Chapter 27. Sticking His Head in the Noose
  • Part 5. Reckonings
  • Chapter 28. The Return of Bobby and Hoffa
  • Chapter 29. Where's Hoffa?
  • Chapter 30. Convenient Corpses
  • Epilogue
  • Acknowledgments
  • Source Notes
  • Bibliography
  • Picture Credits
  • Index
Review by Booklist Review

In twentieth-century America, two notable dynasties emerged from humble origins and clawed their way to wealth and power. The men of the Mafia exerted power from the shadows and ruled with an iron fist. Joseph P. Kennedy, meanwhile, generated his wealth through intelligence, cunning, and ruthlessness. While the Mafia and the Kennedy family may have operated in similar orbits at one time, by the 1960s, the relationship between them had turned vitriolic. John F. Kennedy was in the White House, and his brother Robert was U.S. attorney general. Declaring war on organized crime, Robert targeted figures like Carlos Marcello, Sam Giancana, Jimmy Hoffa, and Joe Gallo. As the attorney general waged battles through the courts, the Mafia experienced internal conflicts that left people dead and its existence undeniably in peril. In the second volume in his three-part history of the Mafia, Ferrante delves extensively into a tumultuous period, providing a wealth of background about key players and the struggles that played out in public and behind closed doors. Essential reading for historians of organized crime.

From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.